Wet Leather: Adults Only Motorcycle Club Romance: Roadrunners MC Page 16

  “No, I think I’ll watch some TV first,” he answered. “You go on up if you’re tired.”

  “OK,” she agreed and walked out of the lounge to return to the kitchen and clean the glass.

  Patch watched her leave then moved across the room to switch on the TV set. He needed a distraction from the thoughts running through his head, and when he sat on the sofa, he clicked through the channels to find a show that he could concentrate on.

  “I’ll see you when you come up,” Tori said when she walked past the door.

  “I won’t be long,” he replied and heard the sound of her climbing the stairs to the bedroom.

  He lifted his feet up to lie on the sofa and continued to flick through the channels until he eventually found a show he could focus his attention on. At first it didn’t stop his thoughts going to the situation they were in, but there was really nothing he could do about it. That frustrated him, but in the end he managed to immerse himself in the show he was watching and tried to relax. He turned the volume down so as not to disturb Tori and a couple of hours passed as he remained where he was. The tiredness slowly sneaked up to make his eyelids droop without him even noticing at first. He shook off the weariness a few times to keep watching, but it eventually claimed him and he fell asleep in front of the television.

  He lay peacefully for a few hours before the dreams began to run through his mind. They eventually turned to the nightmares that he’d been unable to stop ever since leaving the army and suddenly he was in the medic’s tent in Afghanistan. There was no peace now as the sound of terrible, anguished cries made him flinch in his sleep. Sweat broke out on his forehead and his head rolled from side to side as images of trying to save an injured man flashed through his mind.

  “No... no,” he mumbled as the memories of life in the armed forces haunted him.

  His arms jerked up from his body as the nightmare plagued his brain and the scenes of blood and guts unsettled him even more. He let out gasping breaths as his heartbeat raced and he flailed out even more as the faces of the men he couldn’t save loomed large in his mind.

  “I’m sorry,” he mumbled in a louder voice.

  It was more than his head rolling now and the nightmares came to an abrupt end when he moved to the very edge of the sofa and crashed down to the floor. The surprise of falling brought him awake and he lay trembling on the ground as he tried to recover his senses. He rubbed a hand across his forehead and it came away soaked in sweat.

  “Fucking hell,” he let out quietly as he tried to calm his breathing.

  He pushed himself up to a sitting position and grabbed the remote control to switch off the TV. It plunged the room into darkness and he sat for around ten minutes as he tried to gather himself. It was the first nightmare in the space of around a week or so. The last one was the second evening in his apartment with Tori when she woke him up, and since then he’d slept soundly with her next to him each night.

  “Haven’t got rid of them, have you?” he said in a strained voice.

  He was starting to suspect he never would and the slight depression of that washed over him. The thought of going back to sleep made him shudder and he decided to have a hit of caffeine to make sure it didn’t happen. He got to his feet to walk through to the kitchen and the flash of red caught his attention just as he switched the light on. Instinct kicked in and he plunged the room into darkness again.

  He turned and saw the laser dot moving across the wall towards him and instantly knew what it was. He dived to the floor and curled up in the fetal position just as the staccato burst of gunfire erupted. The glass of the window shattered to spray across the room and he winced as a small shard cut his hand. He kept his head covered and gasped for breath as the deafening noise of the barrage continued, but he was ready to move as soon as it stopped.

  In an instant he was on his belly and crawling across the floor. He made his way to the door of the kitchen to get out of the room and away from the immediate danger of being cut down in a hail of bullets. His leather jacket was upstairs in the bedroom and he needed to get there to retrieve his gun. The sound of Tori’s frightened shouting came down the stairs and he set off running as soon as he got to his feet.

  “Get on the floor and stay down,” he screamed at her when he got to the bottom of the stairs.

  The adrenaline was pumping strongly through his veins as he raced up to the first floor of the property. He could hear the wolf-like howl of the crazy man outside when he threw himself down to open the door of the bedroom.

  “Tori,” he hissed when he crawled inside the room.

  He saw her cowering next to the bed and made his way across to her.

  “How did he find us?” she let out in a frightened voice.

  “Who fucking knows,” Patch hissed. “But we need to save ourselves now.”

  He glanced across the room to where his leather jacket was hanging over a chair. Tori grabbed his arm as he tried to move away from her and he turned to look at her.

  “I need to get my gun,” he hissed.

  The howl of Matt sounded out again and this time it was followed by the sound of his shout.

  “You’re fucking dead!” he screamed aggressively.

  Patch pulled Tori’s hand from his arm then crawled across the room. He reached in the pocket of his jacket to get the gun then made his way to the window. Getting to his feet at the side of it, he sucked in a deep breath then sneaked a glance outside. The dim glow of the moonlight revealed only shadows in the darkness and none of them moved to indicate a person.

  “Can you see him?” Tori asked in a hushed tone.

  “No,” Patch replied.

  “What do we do?’ she went on.

  “We sit tight,” he replied.

  He glanced out of the window again and saw the red laser light up to aim at the house. It revealed the location of Matt, but Patch was given no chance to shoot as the burst of gunfire raked the upper floor of the property. He threw himself to the ground and put his hands over his ears to block out some of the noise as he was showered in glass for a second time.

  “Fuck,” he cursed under his breath.

  The sound of Tori’s desperate cries was too loud and he knew it gave their location away when the man outside concentrated the gunfire on the room they were in. All Patch could do was stay where he was until it came to an end. An eerie silence fell over the place when it did and he knew he needed to move. He got on all fours to crawl across to where Tori was still crouched at the side of the bed. She was hugging her knees and he saw the tears streaking her cheeks when she looked at him.

  “You need to keep quiet,” he told her. “I know it’s difficult, but if you make too much noise it gives away our position.”

  She nodded her head, but wasn’t sure that she could.

  “Follow me,” Patch told her.

  “I can’t,” she let out in a despairing voice.

  “You’ve got to,” he said. “We have to get out of this room because he knows we’re here. Just stay low.”

  He grabbed her arm to drag her away from the bed and they crawled over to the door of the shattered bedroom to get to the hallway. It enabled them to stand and Patch led the way to the small bathroom.

  “You need to do what I tell you now,” he said in a determined fashion.

  “OK,” Tori let out in a frightened voice.

  Patch motioned his head towards the room they were standing beside.

  “Go inside and lock the door.”

  “Don’t leave me,” Tori replied instantly.

  “Look, this guy isn’t professional,” he went on. “I think I can take him out, but I can’t do it if I have to worry about you. Just lock the door once you are inside and open the window. There’s a drainpipe that you can climb down if you have to. If you hear gunfire at the front of the house, you make a run for it. Just get out of here and don’t look back.”

  “No, I…”

  “Don’t fucking argue,” he said harshly.

&nbs
p; The tears rolled down Tori’s cheeks as she stared at Patch. She was scared it was the last time she would ever see him alive, but could see the purposeful expression on his face.

  “OK,” she eventually agreed.

  There was a fear to being left alone, but she knew she would just get in the way if she stuck by Patch’s side. She’d seen already he was capable of handling himself, but the small handgun he was carrying didn’t seem like much protection against the assault rifle Matt was using.

  “Hurry,” Patch urged her.

  She did as she was told and walked inside the room. Her hands were shaking badly and she fumbled with the bolt as she tried to close it, but finally managed it. Moving to the far wall, she leant against it and let herself slide to the floor. Her gaze went to the window, but there was no way she was opening it and she clasped her arms around her legs to just sit as quietly as she could.

  Patch glanced at the gun in his hand as he moved towards the stairs leading down to the ground floor. There was only silence around him now and that was more unnerving than the gunfire he just endured. It meant there was no way of knowing where Tori’s ex-boyfriend was, but he assumed that getting in the property was a priority. He stopped at the top of the stairs to listen, but the house remained quiet and he slowly walked down the steps to get to the bottom.

  Moving towards the front door of the property, he crouched down in the darkness of the hallway and took aim. The seconds stretched out until the sound of the crazy wolf howl broke the silence again.

  “Are you ready to fucking meet your maker?” Matt shouted afterwards and laughed hysterically.

  There was no doubt that the sound came from the front of the property, but Patch didn’t move from where he was. His intention was to let Matt come to him so that he could get off the first shot, and when he heard movement at the door, he did just that and fired at the small widow. The grunt of pain he heard made him sure of a hit, but he quickly found out it wasn’t enough.

  A volley of bullets shattered the lock on the front door and he was forced to throw himself in the lounge to avoid taking a hit. There was no time for him to recover before the sound of wood splintering revealed Matt’s likely entry to the property. Patch quickly got to his feet and moved to take a glance out to the hallway. It showed the front door wide open but nothing else and he cursed. There was another silence that unsettled him, but it didn’t last long.

  “Is that the best you’ve fucking got?” Matt screamed and let out a manic laugh that turned to a cough.

  “Show yourself if you want some more,” Patch responded.

  “Fuck you,” Matt snarled. “You think you are such a big man, but you ran from me like a fucking pussy and you’re the one going down this time.”

  The rush of adrenaline flooded Patch’s veins. He glanced the other way along the hallway towards the stairs and suddenly wished he’d stayed on the first floor. Waiting at the top of them suddenly seemed like a smart idea, but it was too late for that and all he could do was make sure Matt didn’t get past him. He needed to rile his opponent into making a mistake.

  “So… what’s it like losing your girlfriend?” he let out in a goading tone.

  “I haven’t fucking lost anything,” Matt almost squealed in a high pitched voice and the anger came through in it.

  “Could have fooled me,” Patch continued. “It’s not you she’s with at night now, is it?”

  “You’re fucking dead,” Matt raged. “I’m going to make her watch as I blow your head off.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Patch said in a calm voice that belied what he was actually feeling. “Don’t you remember lying on the ground with the stars floating around your head after the punch I threw? I could take you with my eyes closed, you fat prick… just like I took your woman.”

  He ducked inside the door when the hail of bullets erupted and it was only at the last moment that he realized Matt was rushing along the hallway towards him. The magazine on the assault rifle emptied to let him hear the pounding footsteps and he swung his arms around the frame of the door. He didn’t manage to get a shot off when the hot barrel of the rifle cracked hard on his hands and made him drop his gun. It clattered to the floor and slid away to leave him unarmed.

  Patch saw the full magazine in Matt’s free hand and knew there was only one thing he could do. He rushed forward to hammer his opponent against the hallway wall and grabbed for the magazine. In their previous fight he was nimble enough to keep out of the way of a heftier man and throw hard punches to put him down, but it wasn’t possible this time and his smaller size put him at a disadvantage in the close-quarters struggle.

  The blood stain on Matt’s top showed where the bullet fired through the door hit him, but the shoulder injury didn’t seem to be hampering him. He used his bulk to force himself away from the wall before he tried to throw off an enemy he wanted dead. The rage burned in him to give him strength and the drugs he consumed stopped him being crippled by the pain of the wound. He screamed as he kicked out then used his power to drive the barrel of the gun up to hit Patch on the side of the head.

  It sent the Roadrunner crashing to the floor, but he was on his feet in an instant and running for the kitchen door to get out of sight. Fortune favored him as Matt fumbled his attempts at reloading the weapon and it gave him the couple of seconds he needed to dive inside the room. His first thought was to escape through the shattered window, but he knew he couldn’t because it would leave Tori at the mercy of her ex-boyfriend. He glanced around for a weapon, but the only thing close to hand was the coffee pot.

  Placing a hand against the glass showed the contents were still hot, so he picked up the pot. The sound of footsteps warned him of the approach of Matt and he readied himself for the appearance of the man he needed to kill to save himself and Tori.

  “Ready to die, you fucker?” Matt yelled.

  The overconfidence the stimulants bestowed on him was his downfall and Patch waited until the last second before throwing the hot liquid. Matt seemed to be taken by surprise, but he still managed to turn his head to protect his eyes. The spray of scalding coffee hit his cheek and neck to make him reel away. There was no scream of agony, however, and it was as if he didn’t feel the pain of the burn.

  The momentary hesitation caused by the thrown coffee gave Patch a chance though and he drove forward with a shoulder charge. Matt crashed against the hallway wall once more and on this occasion it was enough to make him drop the rifle. They both threw themselves to the floor to go after the weapon, but neither could get a proper grip on it and they were too close together to wield it properly.

  Patch managed to get one of his hands free to throw a quick punch that didn’t have much power, but it was still enough to rip open the burnt skin on Matt’s cheek. The agony still didn’t seem to register and the pair of them remained locked together in a deadly struggle that neither was willing to concede.

  The power he was getting from the drugs started to give Matt the upper hand though, and he lashed out with a punch that got lucky. It caught Patch plum on the chin to momentarily daze him and his grip loosened. That was enough for Tori’s ex-boyfriend to pull away and scramble to his feet. He was quick to swing a leg in a vicious kick to press home his advantage.

  Patch put up a hand to try and protect himself, but let out an agonized yell as the power of the kick shattered his finger bones. He desperately tried to rise to his feet, but saw it was too late when he got to his knees and found himself staring down the barrel of a handgun. Matt looked in a terrible state, but nothing seemed to stop him and he was now poised to end the fight.

  “Fucking Roadrunner scum,” he cursed. “I’ll show Tori your dead body to make her understand she’s mine.”

  “She’s fucking gone already,” Patch shouted in a loud voice and hoped Tori could hear. “I told her to run. You can kill me, but it won’t get you her.”

  “LIAR!” Matt screamed.

  Patch didn’t want to see the gun that was going to kill hi
m being fired and closed his eyes as it was aimed at his chest. The deafening sound of a shot rang out to make him wince, but strangely enough there was no pain. He put a hand to his chest expecting it to come away covered in blood, but there was none and he looked to see the gun that was aimed at him only seconds before now pointing towards the floor.

  His mind only caught up with what was happening when Matt tried to turn around. Tori’s shrieking yell sounded out as she pulled the trigger of Patch’s gun again and again to empty every last bullet from it in her ex-boyfriend. It was only then that Matt slumped to the ground and took his last gasping breaths before dying. There was a stunned silence for a few seconds.

  “I told you to fucking run away when you climbed down that drainpipe,” Patch said.

  Tori closed her eyes and sank to her knees as she dropped the gun to the floor.